Webcomic Review: Take-Off!

Sorry for the delay here guys, between the fact that my Pyscho Pass 2 review ended up being nearly 2000 words (oy vey) and that I needed to start writing up my winter 2015 anime post (with nearly 10 shows) this one got neglected more than I should have. And really I should have had this post up months ago, this comic and The Littlest Elle both wrapped up around the same time which was back when I was debating about changing my webcomic reviewing format and I dithered. When I finally did decide that yes, I should do a proper write-up on both of these concluded series I realized that I wanted to push this one back a little bit until Carter's new comic had also started up so I could mention that as well. That webcomic, God Slave, launched in early December and now has enough pages that I can safely recommend it as well but I'm getting ahead of myself, I need to talk about races and mythical creatures first before I mention the crazy world of Egyptian mythology.

Take-Off by Meaghan Carter

Movie Review: Redline

I've been interested in this movie for a little while now, not because of it's plot (which reminds of the Speed Racer movie, which isn't a bad thing but rather a silly thing) but because of the gorgeous looking visuals which reportedly took ten years to draw and there isn't a drop of CGI to be found in it. Got the DVD out from the local college library (I had forgotten there is a two-dvds-at-a-time limit there though, grrr, this messes with my plans a bit) and well, onto the review!

Redline

Summary: Every year the most dangerous car race in the galaxy is held, Redline, only open to a select number of racers and held in a new, surprise location each year. This year the setting is Roboworld, whose rulers are not happy at the prospect of the racers coming and possibly discovering their military secrets, and among the racers is driver Sweet JP whose been in and out of jail for helping to fix races in the past. But here he's in it to win it this time, although to do that he'll first have to survive it. 

The Good: In short, this movie was just plain fun to watch and really engaging, I wasn't bored for a minute and the movie had my full attention the entire time. It was also paced incredibly well, it perfectly balanced the build-up to the race and the race itself without either part feeling too drawn out or too short. JP and Sonoshee, another racer, were both more fleshed out than I expected and I was rather happy to see that Sonoshee wasn't just a pretty face but had some brains and character, honestly I wasn't expecting that out of any of the characters. It was a thoroughly fun watch which I would recommend to any fan of animation, although I don't think the appeal is wide enough for a non-animation fan to really get into it.

The Bad: I do wish that the setting had been explored a little more (some parts, such as Roboworld, are surprisingly fleshed out so I wish the characters had worked in a sentence or two about some of the other worlds as well) but that’s just a little nit-pick of mine, clearly the film works just fine without that.

The Audio: The music here reminded me quite a bit of the soundtrack for the JRPG The World Ends With You although they appear to have different composers. Actually, it appears that the man who did the music, James Shimoji, hasn't done any other work but I'd be rather interested to hear some more from him, the music had a real style and flair to it and impressively enough managed to not be overwhelmed by the visuals but rather add to them. I watched the Japanese dub since I have heard that the English one is not outstanding and the voices here worked fairly well. Nothing amazing but this wasn't a movie which required the actors to voice a wide range of emotions so this wasn't a problem at all.

The Visuals: The visuals are the biggest draw for this movie by far, I’ve heard that it took a full ten years to animate and there’s not a single piece of CGI used both of which I would believe. The art looks incredibly retro and not quite Japanese or American, while I can think of many Western series that have varied aliens and alien settings there’s just something Japanese about the designs. And, despite the fact that the art looks incredibly retro, there’s never been another movie or show that looks quite like this, certainly none with that art style and fluidity of motion, and it made me feel oddly nostalgic for something that didn’t exist. After seeing this movie I really wanted to check out more films like it but artwise there simply aren’t any other like it, despite the fact it looks like it’s from another era where there should be a dozen similar looking shows, and it’s a strange feeling to find something that seems familiar yet at it’s heart is completely new.

I was hoping I'd enjoy this movie, although not certain I would since I like my stories heavy on the plot, but it was quite fun and I can easily see myself getting a copy of the blu-ray someday and rewatching it. 

Book Review: The Scorpio Races

This was one of the books from 2011 which I really wanted to read before the new year but just didn't have a chance, happily it appeared in the school library sometime while I was away (I'm starting to think I should just do a feature in June once I've had a chance to track down and read all the 2011 novels). I was a bit cautious going into this book since I liked Lament quite a bit on it's reread but didn't like Shiver and, while there are a few authors who change up styles often enough that I only like part of their works, normally that doesn't happen so I was half expecting to really dislike the book. Thankfully that wasn't the outcome, even though I still like Lament better.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

I think this is a pretty neat cover for a few reasons. One, I like the font used for the title itself (the little ~ under the o reminds me of a wave which I'm sure was the intent), the red background cover works well considering how dangerous the races are, and the silhouette (which I'm assuming is of Puck and Dove) clearly shows that this is a book about horse races, not about racing some odd kind of scorpion.


Summary: Every November the island of Thisby hosts the dangerous and infamous Scorpio Races where people (ie men and boys trying to become men) tame horses that come from the sea itself (capaill uisce) and then race then along the beach for fame and glory. Puck actually doesn't know too much about races, her family never followed them and since the capaill uisce killed her parents she and her brothers haven't wanted anything to do with them, but in a desperate bid to keep one of her brothers from leaving the island and to get the money to buy their home she decides to race on her regular horse Dove and take her chances. By contrast, Sean is the reigning champion who plans to race on his almost-tame Cor in order to win the money to buy Cor from his owner. 

The Good: It's an odd little detail but I was surprised at how the American tourist who seems rather interested in Sean comes across. Normally tourists in stories are loud and stupid, especially if they're Americans, but here he felt almost like a audience surrogate and  a clever one at that so I liked his inclusion. As for the bigger picture I liked the idea of the story, it felt like Misty of Chincoteague meets Hildago with some kelpies thrown in for good measure, that's a fairly creative mash-up and it never feels like Stiefvatater has ripped off those stories, rather that this is a story with some similarities to them. In short, the concept makes an old idea feel original which takes skill and is well-grounded in it's setting. It's also a great example of how a setting should affect all parts of a story, none of the conflicts would exist without the island and the culture it's created, so that really pleased me.  

The Bad: A lot of this book consisted of "Puck and/or Sean wondering if they should do something" which, as I've said before, really isn't my cup of tea and the story does take a little while to get going. It's not slow paced per say but to give a good description of the story, like the one I put up, you have to mention things that don't crop up until almost halfway through the story. There is plenty of character interaction and a few subplots that happen but in the end those don't end up mattering a that much and I did just get a bit bored by the earlier bits.

Overall it was an enjoying read and I'd love to see a movie version come to fruition, I know the rights have been bought so who knows where it'll go from there. Now if you'll excuse me, Stiefvater has created a recipe for a fictional dessert she put in the book and I need no excuse to go bake cakes, especially book inspired ones.